Branded by the Sheriff

“Because it says, ‘I love you, but I can’t stop myself from killing you. Get out,’” Beck grumbled. “I don’t know how many people you know who both love you and want you dead. Darin certainly fits the bill. Of course, maybe he just wrote the message and had Wheeler toss it in here for him.”

She swallowed hard, and the lump in her throat caused her to ache. God. This couldn’t be happening.

Faith forced herself to think this through. Instead of Nolan being Darin’s accomplice, Nolan himself could be doing this to set up her brother. Still, that didn’t make it less of a threat.

“Listen for anyone coming in through the back door,” Beck instructed.

There went her breath again. If Beck had been able to break in, then a determined killer or vandal would have no trouble doing the same.

Because she had to do something other than cower and wait for the worst, Faith crawled to the end of the bed where she’d placed her suitcase. After a few run-ins with Nolan Wheeler, she’d bought a handgun. But she didn’t have it with her. However, she did have pepper spray.

She retrieved the slender can from her suitcase and inched out a little so she could see what was going on. Beck was still crouched at the window, and he had his weapon ready and aimed into the darkness.

With that part of the house covered, she shifted her attention to the bedroom door. From her angle, she could see the kitchen, and if the rock thrower took advantage of that broken lock, he’d have to come through the kitchen to get to them. Thankfully, the moonlight piercing through the back windows allowed her to see that the room was empty.

“You don’t listen very well,” Beck snarled. “I told you to stay put.”

She ignored his bark. Faith wouldn’t make herself an open target, but she wanted to be in a position to defend herself.

“Do you see anyone out there?” she barked back.

She clamped her teeth over her bottom lip to stop the trembling. Not from fear. She was more angry than afraid. But with the gaping holes in the window, the winter wind was pushing its way through the room, and she was cold.

“No. But if I were a betting man, I’d say your brother’s come back to eliminate his one and only remaining sibling—you.”

“Maybe the person outside is after you?”

He glanced back at her. So brief. A split-second look. Yet, he conveyed a lot of hard skepticism with that glimpse.

“You’re the sheriff,” she reminded him. “You must have made enemies. Besides, my mother and sister have been dead for over two months. If that’s Darin or their real killer out there, why would he wait this long to come after me? It’s common knowledge that I was living in Oklahoma City and practicing law there for the past few years. Why not just come after me there?”

“A killer doesn’t always make sense.”

True. But there were usually patterns. Her mother and sister’s killer had attacked them when they were alone. He hadn’t been bold or stupid enough to try to shoot them with a police officer nearby. Of course, maybe the killer didn’t realize that the car out front belonged to Beck, since it was his personal vehicle and not a cruiser. Therefore he wouldn’t have known that Beck was there. She certainly hadn’t been aware of it when she had been in that shower. Talk about the ultimate shock when she’d seen him standing there.

Her, stark naked.

Him, combing those smoky blue eyes all over her body.

“Dreamy eyes,” the girls in school had called him. Dreamy eyes to go with a dreamy body, that toast-brown hair and quarterback’s build.

Faith hadn’t been immune to Beck’s sizzling hot looks, either. She’d looked. But the looking stopped after the night he’d given her a Breathalyzer test at the motel.

A lot of things had stopped that night.

And there was no going back to that place. Even if those dreamy looks still made her feel all warm and willing.

“I hope you’re having second and third thoughts about bringing your daughter here,” Beck commented. He still had his attention fastened to the front of the house.

She was. But what was the alternative? If this was Darin or her sister’s slimy ex, then where could she take Aubrey so she’d be safe?

Nowhere.

That was a sobering and frightening thought.

But Beck was right about one thing. She needed to rethink this. Not the job. She wasn’t going to run away from the job. However, she could do something about making this a safe place for Aubrey. And the first thing she’d do was to catch the person who’d thrown those rocks through her window.

She could start by having the handwriting analyzed. Footprints, too. Heck, she wanted to question the taxi driver to see if he’d told anyone that he’d dropped her off at the house. Someone had certainly learned quickly enough that she was there.

“I think the guy’s gotten away by now,” Faith let Beck know.

He didn’t answer because his phone rang. Beck glanced at the screen and answered with a terse, “Where are you right now?” He paused, no doubt waiting for the answer. “Someone in front of the house threw rocks through the window. Check the area and let me know what you find.”

Good. It was backup. If Nolan Wheeler or whoever was still out there, then maybe he’d be caught. Maybe this would all be over within the next few minutes. Then she could deal with this adrenaline roaring through her veins and get on with her life.

Faith waited there with her fingers clutched so tightly around the pepper spray that her hand began to cramp. The minutes crawled by, and they were punctuated by silence and the occasional surly glance from Beck.

He still hated her.

She could see it in his face. He still blamed her for that night with his brother. Part of her wanted to shout the truth of what’d happened, but he wouldn’t believe her. Her own mother hadn’t. And over the years she’d convinced herself that it didn’t matter. That incident had given her a chip on her shoulder, and she’d used that chip and her anger to succeed. Coming back here, getting the job as the assistant district attorney, that was her proof that she’d risen above the albatross of her family’s DNA.

“It’s me,” someone called out, causing her heart to race again.

But Beck obviously wasn’t alarmed. He got to his feet and watched the man approach the window.

“I see some tracks,” the man announced. “But if anybody’s still out here, then he’s freezing his butt off and probably hiding in the bushes across the road.”

The man poked his face against the hole in the window, and she got a good look at him. It was Corey Winston. He’d been a year behind her in high school and somewhat of a smart mouth. These days, he was Beck’s deputy. She’d learned that during her job interview with the district attorney.

Corey’s insolent gaze met hers. “Faith Matthews.” He used a similar tone to the one Beck had used when he first saw her. “What are you doing back in LaMesa Springs?”

“She’s going to be the new assistant district attorney,” Beck provided.

That earned her a raised eyebrow from Corey. “Now I’ve heard everything. You, the ADA? Well, you’re not off to a good start. You breeze into town, your first night back, and you’re already stirring up trouble, huh?”

The huh was probably added to make it sound a little less insulting. But it only riled her more. She’d let jerks like Corey, and Beck, run her out of town ten years earlier, but they wouldn’t succeed this time.

She would continue full speed ahead, and if that included arresting her own brother, she’d do it and carry out her lawful duties. Of course, because of a personal conflict, the DA himself would have to prosecute the case, but she would fully cooperate. It helped that she had been estranged from her mother and sister. That wouldn’t help with Darin. It would hurt. But duty had to come first here.

Beck reholstered his gun and glanced around at the glass on the floor. “Secure the scene,” he told Corey. “Cast at least one of the footprints, and I’ll send it to the lab in Austin. We might get lucky.”

“You think it’s worth it?” Corey challenged. But his defiance went down a notch when Beck stared at him. “It just seems like a lot of trouble to go through considering this was probably done by those Kendrick kids. You know those boys have too much time on their hands and nobody at home to see what they’re up to.”

“There’s a killer on the loose,” Beck reminded him.

That reminder, however, didn’t stop Corey from scowling at Faith before he turned from the window and got to work. He grumbled something indistinguishable under his breath.

Beck looked at her then. He wasn’t exactly sporting a scowl like Corey, but it was close. “I need you to come with me to my office so I can take a statement.”

It was standard operating procedure. Something that needed to be done, just in case it had been the killer outside that window. Besides, she didn’t want to be alone in the house. Not tonight. Maybe not ever. She would truly have to rethink making this place a home for Aubrey.

Faith grabbed her purse and got ready to go.

“I don’t believe it was the Kendrick kids who threw those rocks,” Beck said to her.

That stopped her in her tracks. “You think it was Darin?” she challenged.

“If not Darin, then let’s play around with your assumption, that your mom and sister’s killer was Sherry’s ex, Nolan Wheeler.” He hitched his thumb toward the broken glass. “If Nolan was outside that window tonight, he could want to do you harm.”

She shook her head. “Stating the obvious here, but if that’s true, why wait until now?”

“Because you were here, alone. Or so he thought. You were an easy target.”

Faith zoomed in on the obvious flaw in his theory. “And his motive for wanting me dead?”

“Maybe Nolan thinks you’ll use your new job to come after him for the two murders. He might even think that’s why you’ve come back.”

She opened her mouth to deny it, but she couldn’t. In fact, that’s exactly the way Nolan would think.

Other than in confidence to her boss, Faith hadn’t announced to anyone in Oklahoma that she had accepted the job in LaMesa Springs.

Not until this morning.

This morning, she’d also called LaMesa Springs’ DA to tell him she would be arriving. She had arranged for renovations and a security system for the house. She’d made lots and lots of calls, and anyone could have found out her plans.

Anyone, including Nolan.

“Where’s your daughter right now?” Beck asked. His tone alone would have alarmed her, but there was more than a sense of urgency in his expression.

“Aubrey’s still in Oklahoma with her nanny. Why?”

“Because I was just trying to put myself in Nolan’s place. If he came here to scare you off and it didn’t work, then what will he do next?” His stare was a warning. “If he’s got an accomplice or if it was his accomplice who just tossed those rocks, that means one of them could be here in LaMesa Springs and the other could be in Oklahoma.”

Her heart dropped to her knees.

Beck took a step toward her. “Either Darin or Nolan might try to use your daughter to get to you.”

“Oh, God.”

Faith grabbed her phone from her purse and prayed that it wasn’t too late to keep Aubrey safe.

Chapter Three

By Beck’s calculation, Faith had been pacing in his office for three hours while she waited for her daughter to arrive. Even when she’d been on the phone, which was a lot, or while giving her official statement to him, she still paced. And while she did that, she continued to check her delicate silver watch.

The minutes were probably dragging by for her.

They certainly were for him.

Beck tried to keep himself occupied with routine paperwork and notes on his current cases. Normally he liked keeping busy. But this wasn’t a normal night.

Faith Matthews was in his office, mere yards away, and sooner or later he was going to have to break the news to his family that she’d returned. Since it was going on midnight, Beck had opted for later, but he knew, with the gossip mill always in full swing, that if he didn’t tell his father, brother and sister-in-law by morning—early morning, at that—then they’d find out from some other source.

As if she knew what he was thinking, Faith tossed him a glance from over her shoulder.

Despite the vigor of her pacing, she was exhausted. Her eyes were sleep-starved, and her face was pale and tight with tension. On some level he understood that tension.

Her daughter might be in danger, and she was waiting for the little girl to arrive with her nanny and the Texas Ranger escort from the Austin airport. Beck hadn’t had the opportunity to be around many babies, but he figured the parental bond was strong, and the uncertainty was driving Faith crazy.

“You’re staring at me,” she grumbled.

Yeah. He was.

Beck glanced back at his desk, but the glance didn’t take. For some stupid reason, his attention went straight back to Faith. To her tired expression. Her tight muscles. The still damp hair that she hadn’t had a chance to dry after her shower.

Noticing her hair immediately made him uncomfortable. But then so did Faith. Dealing with a scrawny eighteen-year-old was one thing, but Faith was miles away from being that girl. She was poised and polished, even now despite the damp hair. A woman in every sense of the word.

Hell. That made him uncomfortable, too.

“I figure you’re having second thoughts about accepting the ADA job,” he grumbled, hoping conversation would help. It was a fishing expedition since she’d kept her thoughts to herself the entire time she had been waiting for her daughter and the nanny to arrive.

“You wish,” she tossed at him. “The DA and the city council want me here, and I have to just keep telling myself that not everyone in town hates me like the Tanners.”

Okay. No second thoughts. Well, not any that she would likely voice to him. She had dug in her heels, unlike ten years ago when she’d left town running. Part of him, the part he didn’t want to acknowledge, admired her for not wavering in her plans. She certainly hadn’t shown much backbone or integrity ten years ago.

She flipped open her cell phone again and pressed redial. Beck didn’t have to ask who she was calling. He knew it was the nanny. Faith had called the woman at least every half hour.

“How much longer?” Faith asked the moment the woman apparently answered. The response made her relax a bit, and she seemed to breathe easier when she added, “See you then.”

“Good news?” he asked when she didn’t share.

“They’ll be here in about fifteen minutes.” She raked her hair away from her face. “I should have just gone to the airport to meet them.”

“The Texas Rangers didn’t want you to do that,” Beck reminded her, though he was certain she already knew that. The Ranger lieutenant and her new boss, the DA, had ordered her to stay put at the sheriff’s office.

The order was warranted. It was simply too big of a risk for her to go gallivanting all over central Texas when there might be a killer on her trail.

“So what’s the plan when your daughter arrives?” Beck asked.

“Since the Texas Rangers said they’ll be providing security, we’ll check in to the hotel on Main Street.” She didn’t hesitate, which meant, in addition to the calls and pacing, she’d obviously given it plenty of thought. “Then tomorrow morning, I can start putting some security measures in place.”

He’d overheard her conversations with the Rangers about playing bodyguard and the other conversation about those measures. She was having a high-tech security system installed in her childhood home. In a whispered voice, she’d asked the price, which told Beck that she didn’t have an unlimited budget. No surprise there. Faith had come from poor trash, and it’d no doubt taken her a while to climb out of that. She probably didn’t have money to burn.

She made a soft sound that pulled his attention back to her. It was a faint groan. Correction, a moan. And for the first time since he’d seen her in the shower, there was a crack in that cool composure.

“I have to know if you’re a real sheriff,” she said, her voice trembling. “I have to know if it comes down to it that you’ll protect my daughter.”

Because the vulnerable voice had distracted him, it took him a second to realize she’d just insulted the hell out of him.

Beck stood and met her eye-to-eye. “This badge isn’t decoration, Faith,” he said, and he tapped the silver star clipped to his belt.

She just stared at him, apparently not convinced. “I want you to swear that you’ll protect Aubrey.”

Riled now, Beck walked closer. Actually, too close. No longer just eye-to-eye, they were practically toe-to-toe. “I. Swear. I’ll. Protect. Aubrey.” He’d meant for his tone to be dangerous. A warning for her to back down.

She didn’t. “Good.”

Faith actually sounded relieved, which riled him even more. Hell’s bells. What kind of man did she think he was if he wouldn’t do his job and protect a child?

Or Faith, for that matter?

And why did it suddenly feel as if he wanted to protect her?

Oh, yeah. He remembered. She was attractive, and mixed with all that sudden vulnerability, he was starting to feel, well, protective.

Among other things.

“Thank you,” she added.

It was so sincere, he could feel it.

So were the tears that shimmered in her eyes. Sincere tears that she quickly blinked back. “For the record, I’m a good lawyer. And I’ll be a good ADA.” Now she dodged his gaze. “I have to succeed at this. For Aubrey. I want her to be proud of me, and I want to be proud of myself. I’ll convince the people of this town that I’m not that same girl who tried to run away from her past.”

She turned and waved him off, as if she didn’t want him to respond to that. Good thing. Because Beck had no idea what to say. He preferred the angry woman who’d barked at him in the shower. He preferred the Faith that’d turned tail and run ten years ago.

This woman in front of him was going to be trouble.

His brother had once obviously been attracted to her. Beck could see why. Those eyes. That hair.

That mouth.

His body started to build a stupid fantasy about Faith’s mouth when thankfully there was a rap at his door. Judging from Corey’s raised eyebrow, he hadn’t missed the way Beck had been looking at Faith.

“What?” Beck challenged.

Corey screwed up his mouth a moment to indicate his displeasure. “I took a plaster of one of the footprints like you said. It’s about a size ten. That’s a little big for one of the Kendrick kids.”

Beck had never believed this was a prank. Heck, he wasn’t even sure it was a scare tactic. Those rocks had been meant to send Faith running, and Beck didn’t think the killer was finished.

“I’ll send the plaster and the two rocks to the Rangers lab in Austin tomorrow morning.” With that, Corey walked away.

Realizing that he needed to put some distance between him and Faith, Beck took a couple of steps away from her.

“My brother wears a size-ten shoe,” Faith provided.

He stopped moving away and stared at her again. “So does your sister’s ex, Nolan.”

She blinked, apparently surprised he would know that particular detail.

“Even though the murders didn’t happen here in my jurisdiction, I’ve been studying his case file,” Beck explained.

Another blink. “I hope that means you’re close to figuring out who killed my mother and sister.”

“I’ve got it narrowed down just like you do.” He shrugged. “You think it’s Nolan. I think it’s your brother, Darin, working with Nolan. The only other person I need to rule out is your daughter’s father.”

She folded her arms over her chest. Looked away. “He’s not in the picture.”

“So you said in your statement to the Rangers, but I have to be sure that he’s not the one who put those rocks through the window.”

“I’m sure he has no part in this,” she snapped. “And that brings us back to Darin and Nolan. Darin really doesn’t have a motive to come after me—”

“But he does,” Beck interrupted. “It could be the house and the rest of what your mother owned.”

Faith shook her head. “My mother disowned Darin four years ago. He can’t inherit anything.”

“Does your brother know that?”

“Darin knows.” There was a lot emotion and old baggage that came with the admission. The disinheritance had probably sparked a memorable family blowup. Beck would take her word for it that Darin had known he couldn’t benefit financially from the murders.

“That leaves Nolan,” Beck continued. “While you were on the phone, I did some checking. Your sister, Sherry, lived with Nolan for years, long enough for them to have a common-law marriage. And even though they hadn’t cohabited in the eighteen months prior to her death, they never divorced. That means he’d legally be your mother’s next of kin…if you and your daughter were out of the way.”

Her eyes widened, and her arms uncrossed and dropped to her sides. “You think Nolan would kill me to inherit that rundown house?”

“Not just the house. It comes with three acres of land and any other assets your mother left. She only specified in her will that her belongings would go to her next of kin, with the exclusion of Darin.”

“The land, the house and the furniture are worth a hundred thousand, tops,” she pointed out.

“People have killed for a lot less. That’s why I alerted every law-enforcement agency to pick up Nolan the moment he’s spotted. I want him in custody so I can question him.”

That caused her to chew on her bottom lip, and Beck wondered if she was ready to change her mind about staying in town. “I have to draw up my will ASAP. I can write it so that Nolan can’t inherit a penny. And then I need to let him know that. That’ll stop any attempts to kill me.”

Maybe.

Unless there was a different reason for the murders.

The front door opened, and just like that, Faith raced out of his office and into the reception area. Corey was at the desk, by the dispatch phone, and Faith practically flew right past him to get to the three people who’d just stepped inside.

A Texas Ranger and a sixtysomething-year-old Hispanic woman carrying a baby in pink corduroy overalls and a long-sleeved lacy white shirt. Aubrey.

Faith pulled the little girl into her arms and gave her a tight hug. Aubrey giggled and bounced, the movement causing her mop of brunette hair to bounce as well.

Beck hadn’t really known what to expect when it came to Faith’s daughter, but he’d at least thought the child would be sleeping at this time of night. She wasn’t. She was alert, smiling, and her brown eyes were the happiest eyes he’d ever seen.

“Sgt. Egan Caldwell,” the Ranger introduced himself first to Beck and then to Faith.

“Sheriff Beck Tanner.”

“Marita Dodd,” the nanny supplied. Unlike the little girl, this woman’s dark eyes showed stress, concern and even some fear. She was petite, barely five feet tall, and a hundred pounds, tops, but even with her demure size and sugar-white hair, she had an air of authority about her. “Aubrey’s obviously got her second wind. Unlike the rest of us.”

“Ms. Matthews,” the Ranger said to Faith. “Could I have word with you?” He didn’t add the word alone, but his tone certainly implied it.

“Of course.” After another kiss on the cheek, Faith passed the child back to the nanny, and she and Sgt. Caldwell went to the other side of the reception area to have a whispered conversation.

Beck watched Faith’s expression to see if she was about to get bad news, but if her brother had been caught or was dead, then why hadn’t the Ranger told Beck as well? After all, Beck was assisting with the case.

“I really have to go the ladies’ room,” Marita Dodd said. That brought Beck’s attention back to her.

“Down the hall, last room on the right,” Beck instructed.